Hatake Kakashi
by lingching
Summary: Simply Hatake Kakashi. Spoilers for Chapter 425.


SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't read the manga and don't want to be spoiled, then please don't read this because there're spoilers for the latest chapter of Naruto at the end of the story.

Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine. I don't have the ability to mess with your mind by throwing three cliffies in a row.

AN: Due to the recent developments in the Naruto manga, I felt that I needed to write something. I haven't written any fanfic in a while, so I'm a bit rusty. Sorry for that, but as terrible as it is, I really need to write _something._ 

_**1**_

Hatake Kakashi never knew his mother. His father had never spoken a word about her and nothing at home indicated that she even existed. If it hadn't been Jiraiya's lewd remarks about men and women making babies together, he would've always believed that his father, a genius shinobi, had created him with a jutsu. Of course, Tsunade bashed Jiraiya's head into the wall for corrupting his young mind.

The night that he asked his father about his mother was the first time he ever saw him cry. _I'msorryKakashiIcouldn'tprotectherIcouldn'tsaveherI'msorryI'msorry._ That night, he finally understood who his father had always seen when he looked at his _their_ _son_'s face with those eyes, so full of sorrow and pain. The next day, Hatake Kakashi wore a mask and somehow, it became his identity.

_**2**_

Hatake Kakashi hated shinobi school. His school teacher was nowhere near his father's level and he just can't seem to fit in with the rest of the children who were double his age. He didn't actually have much choice in the matter because his father was suddenly busy with all sorts of missions and felt that he was a danger to himself (and to some innocent bystanders) if left alone on his own. Neither his pout nor his puppy-dog-eyes worked. _ButallIdidwasimpalethatblondeguy'sfootIdidn'tmeanit._

From then on, he seldom saw his father anymore and whenever he did, it was always just a brief pat on the head before a slight shove that sent him in the direction of that pathetic excuse of a shinobi school. So, when he understood that his only ticket out of there was to graduate, he worked himself to the bone. Almost a year later, he couldn't understand why everyone looked so shocked on his graduation day. On that day, Hatake Kakashi was deemed a genius and that was what he was known as for a long, long time.

_**3**_

Hatake Kakashi officially met Namikaze Minato three days after graduation. That shock of blonde hair looked rather familiar to him. He could understand that the other Jounin senseis did not want him on their team because he was _small _so he was actually surprised when the smiling blonde approached him and told him he was _Minato-sensei._ Then, he wasn't so surprised anymore when he found out that Namikaze Minato was Jiraiya's student. 

It didn't take him long to realize that his soon-to-be sensei was no pushover and was probably as strong as his father. It did take him awhile though, to realize that Minato-sensei agreed to take him on because he wanted revenge for his foot. Unfortunately, realization came too late when he found himself hanging upside down from a tree and the bells still safely held in Minato's hands. He could swear it was not the jingling of the bells he heard, but was instead, Minato's evil cackles. The weird thing was that he actually passed the bell test because he took it alone so there was actually no point to it in the first place. That day, Hatake Kakashi became the student of the future Yondaime Hokage, but that was one of the few things about him that people always forgot.

_**4**_

When he woke up to find his father drenched in blood and staring at him blankly, tanto still in hands, he knew something was very wrong. The blood did not smell like it belonged to his father, but it worried him all the same. A hand reached up to pat his head like it always did, but there was no warmth in it that he relished so much. And as sudden as he appeared, he left again, without heeding his son's desperate pleas for him to stay. _Pleasestaypleasedon'tgoIdon'twantyoutodisappear._ That night, he climbed Minato's window, but to his disappointment, his sensei was not around. He curled up in a corner and slept. When he woke up the next day, it was to his sensei's worried face and to an unreal world where his father had suddenly become a disgrace to the village.

The second time Hatake Kakashi witnessed his father's tears was also the last time. He could not quite remember how he found his father or how he tried to stop the blood _life_ from flowing out of his father. Because all he could hear were those words. _I'msorryKakashiI'veleteveryonedownI'msorryIdidthisIloveyouKakashi._ When he finally realized that his father was actually dead, his heart_ hurt_, just hurt so much that he couldn't breathe. He did not speak to anyone after that, not until after his father's funeral and the first thing that he said pained Minato in such a way that for once, he wished he had the power to engrave Hatake Sakumo's name onto the memorial stone. _IfthatiswhatthevillagewantsthenthatiswhatIwillbecomeIwon'tbeadisgracelikemyfather._ From then on, missions and rules were always Hatake Kakashi's top priority, but somehow, it was never meant to be.

_**5**_

Hatake Kakashi was not pleased with his new team. Apparently, Minato-sensei thought it was the ideal 10th birthday present for him, but he thought they were totally hopeless. Still, even though he enjoyed scolding them from time to time, he felt that it was his duty as a sempai to pull them out of danger every time. Obito would hate him for that and tear up, but Kakashi would always come up with a sarcastic remark that would light up a new fire in his eyes and make the crybaby wipe off his tears in frustration. Rin never said anything while she healed his wounds, but her medical skills that improved exponentially, spoke a thousand words. And as time passed, Kakashi realized that, as dysfunctional as his team was, Namikaze Minato always made the right choices.

When he turned Jounin, Uchiha Obito died and he gained a Sharingan eye. But his heart had lost purpose and for once, he wondered just what had he been fighting for. He actually wanted to kick Obito back to life again just so he could tell him that _OfcoursetheSharinganisanexcessbaggageyoudumbassIt'ssoheavysomuchpainsorrowguiltregret_. But he would not give up the eye because it is _Obito_ and Obito was _is_ his friend. So when the Uchihas demanded the eye back, he stood his ground and refused outright. They could not do anything to him because his sensei had his back and was staring back at them with equally cold eyes and a deadly aura. The first morning of many mornings to come, he visited Obito at the memorial stone and promised his friend that he will live for him and together, they will protect their home. On the day of Obito's funeral, Hatake Kakashi was late and it became his trademark.

_**6**_

Hatake Kakashi never got along well with Obito. So it was no wonder he did not get along well with his eye. The Sharingan rejected his body and constantly drained his chakra, but he was determined to master it. The Uchihas were obviously not going to lend him a helping hand and was probably waiting for him to keel over and die. And he refused both his sensei and Rin's help because he wanted to do it himself. _Needed_ to. It took him awhile to understand how it worked and after that, it all came naturally to him, even though they still never got along.

The first ninjutsu that he copied with his Sharingan was his sensei's Rasengan because it was the one jutsu that Obito had always wanted to learn, but never succeeded. After that, copying jutsus with the Sharingan became almost an obsession with him because that was the time that _Obito_ felt the most alive. Time and time again, during missions, he enjoyed copying the enemies' moves just to mess with their minds. And over the course of the years, people came to know him as Sharingan no Kakashi and that became _their _legend.

_**7**_

When Namikaze Minato accepted the Hokage mantle, Hatake Kakashi was very surprised. He would never have thought that Minato-sensei would put his wedding on hold because Uzumaki Kushina was already a few months pregnant with his child. When he asked her about it, she had that disturbing calmness in her usually lively and energetic countenance and brushed him off lightly. He knew something was going on because of that haunted look in his sensei's eyes, but he would not tell him anything and even refused his application to join the ANBU. Only after his sensei requested his help to gather some confidential information and scrolls, did he find out that Minato-sensei was developing some kind of forbidden fuuin no jutsu.

When the Kyuubi attacked the village, he suddenly understood what the seal was for. It came to him then, that feeling of despair. They were all powerless to stop it. He watched how the village was destroyed, the villagers killed and how Uzumaki Naruto's fate was sealed forever. His sensei gave him that lovely, warmth-filled smile as he slowly faded into a swirl of darkness. _Konohaisourhome,Kakashi. Don'tworry,senseiwillprotectyou._ _StopblamingyourselfforObito'sdeath. Rinneedsyou. Promiseme,Kakashi,don'tdie._ He reached out desperately to stop him from leaving but his fingers caught nothing but air and a single, droplet of tear. And he felt himself shatter into pieces. The day after the Yondaime Hokage's funeral, Hatake Kakashi joined the ANBU, but no one ever knew the identity of the ruthless and coldblooded ANBU Wolf.

_**8**_

The days in ANBU were filled with blood and death. He had not wished to involve her. Still, she was stubborn and followed him nevertheless. He could understand that, because they had no one left but each other. He protected her with his life and she saved him from death countless times. But it did not stop his descent into the abyss. He was the cruel devil in ANBU that felt no remorse. He was spiraling into madness and was dragging her along with him. However, a small part of his heart that still remained human constricted painfully each time he saw her killing for him. And he realized one day, that the light in her eyes were gone. That very same day, he removed her from ANBU.

Her name never got etched on the memorial stone. He should have known that she was stubborn enough to refuse orders. But at the very end, she seemed to have found herself and she died with a heartbreakingly beautiful smile. And the wolf mask shattered. _Iknowyou'restillinthere,KakashiPleasecomebackIloveyou,Kakashi._ As he watched her body burn, he realized just how much he had failed his team. All this while, the future that he had been showing Obito was death while the future that his sensei had tried to build, he took no part of. When he turned in his ANBU resignation, he felt a sense of calm that he had lost a long time ago, return again. The village was alive and full of hope, and for once, it was _his _wish to keep it that way. His apartment was dusty because he had been away for missions for so long, but beside the framed picture of his team, lay the long forgotten birthday present from Jiraiya. He supposed he has time to read it now. When Hatake Kakashi attended his first Jounin meeting after a long absence, it was with an orange book in hand and it became a part of him for many years to come.

_**9**_

Hatake Kakashi is an enigma, or so that is what everyone says. But in reality, he merely adopted the many traits of his friends. Somehow, he picked up Obito's laziness and disregard for time (and also the lame excuses) and also Jiraiya's penchant for porn. Then, when he decided to become a jounin sensei, he had to learn how to smile because his half-lidded eyes held a certain coldness to them that scared the kids. Personally, he thinks they should quit being shinobi then, but that remark earned him a cuff in the head from Asuma. Since the only thing _not covered up_ on his face was his right eye, he decided to train his eye to smile. He pictured his sensei's smiling face and Rin's gentle eyes and the rest, they say, was history. The crescent-moon-smile charmed them, but still, they all failed in the end.

When he accepted his first team of students, it was with mixed feelings. It was like looking at his own team all over again and sometimes, Kakashi was worried that he would fail them once more. However, he knew he could not just let them go. They had so much potential in them that he might never be strong enough to uncover, but for now, they needed his guidance. Besides, he liked seeing them squirm with unease and especially enjoyed their annoyance to his lateness. And whenever they look like they needed it, he would give them a comforting pat on their heads with _warm_ hands. At the 26th year of his life, Hatake Kakashi officially became a jounin sensei and that is what they will always remember him as. _Kakashi-sensei._

_**10**_

Hatake Kakashi was not too sure what went wrong with his team. One betrayed the village and almost caused the death of the other. Suddenly, he did not have a team anymore. He knew that it would come one day, when he is too powerless to help his students, but it came all too fast. He was all alone again and disappointment ate at him. The next few years passed in a blur. For him, it involved Sharingan and missions. For his students, he supposed it was also filled with training and new discoveries. _Kakashi-sensei,IjustlearnedthisnewhealingjutsuCanItestitonyou_. When he conducted the second bell test, he realized just how much they have grown, but was also glad to see that they still retained that refreshing innocence. He made a silent promise that he would protect them with his life because they were the future generation that would shape the future Konoha.

So, when the Akatsuki attacked, he tried to do all he can to protect this place he called home even if it meant his certain death. No matter how insignificant the information was, he needed to send it back to the investigation team because even a slight _mis_information might cost them their lives. And even as death looms in front of him, he feels no fear. But now, sitting beside his father and telling him his life story, he realized that he cannot die yet. He _can't _give up,_ can't_ just die, because he was the White Fang's son, the ANBU Wolf, Sharingan no Kakashi, Copy-ninja Kakashi and Kakashi-sensei, but he had never simply become _Hatake Kakashi._

There. Done. I hope it's not too messed up.


End file.
